Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The season of Street Fighter continues, Our first look at the up coming movie, Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li is out albeit in Japanese...but do you really need this trailer localized? A few things that worry me, Balrog with a rocket launcher, M. Bison with curly blonde hair....Neal McDonough is the best they could find to play M. Bison...really? And as cool as Vega is in the game seeing a man in spandex, Freddie Kruger claws and a shiney mask in a real life seems....odd.Note to director...Chun Li throws Kikokens, not Hadokens....Enjoy Watching Kristin Kreuk kick ass and learn to channel her chi to catch a sword between her palms....never seen that before in a kung fu movie. >.<

The good folks over at the unity boards have fed the Capcom super computer and it has extrapolated crucial data regarding the Street Fighter IV Collectors Edition. After extensive probing of Street Fighter fans the CapcomSuper Computer has updated information showing a less than 100% approval rating of the Street Fighter IV box art, which means the shakles don't come off yet....

The metools at Capcom have created a brand

spanking new box art for the regular and Collectors edition which boosted the approval percentage to 200%!

How do they do it!?

Keeping with awesome that began with the launch of SSFIITHDR, the collectors edition of SFIV will come with some ultra cool swag!A limited-edition Ryu figurine, Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind: a 65 minute anime movie on BluRay disc, a mini-strategy guide from Prima, written by the same people doing the full-on guide and illustrated by Udon Comics, a CD soundtrack.…Plus some secret additional downloadable content.

So will you be laying the $59.99 + tax for just the game OR $79.99 for a very Shoryuken Christmas?

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The trailer for Final Fantasy XIII from SquEnix's DSK3713 closed door event is out, check out this extended trailer showcasing lightning, and the two other members revealed recently in famitsu mag scans, Final Fantasy XIII is just one title in the Fabula Nova Crystalis series, and will be on the PS3 and XBox 360 in the US & Europe.

Finally the trailer that was shown at SquEnix's DSK3713 event has been released! This trailer absolutely owns in every single way, graphics, action, music, sound effects...with this title still a PS3 exclusive and thus being on Bluray all the soundeffects and glorious graphics you see here will be even crisper, clearer, and louder! I hope this game makes it out this year!!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The first two God of War games were epic to be understated, I expect GoWIII to be a "OMFG" game, thie VGA's gave us our first glimpse of Kratos in in GoWIII...it was great to see the angriest spartan in history but the teaser didn't leave me psyched at all..it was definately not the "OMFG" experience it should've been.Anyway check out Kratos doing what he does best get angry and kick the shit out of stuff!

Aside from the Neil Patrick Harris screw up, one of the few highlights from Spike's 2008 VGA's was the teaser trailer for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, unlike the lack luster teaser for God of War III, Drake's upcoming adventure looks as impressive as the first game and the teaser did a teriffic job of grabbing my attention and not letting go...kinda like poor Nathan Drake at the end of the teaser! This looks like another quality title for the PS3 in 2009.

Monday, December 15, 2008

I'm not sure this is the best one sheet for the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie coming next summer, it kinda conjures up memories of X3, which for some was the weakest of the X-Men movies. I didn't hate X3 but it certainly had it's lows...After watching the trailer for the upcoming Wolverine movie I'm cautiously optimistic this could better than X3. Check out the trailer courtesy of joblo.

Friday, December 12, 2008

So I completed the DL this AM and made me, the system gives some decent customization options for recreating your face, the options for hair color and style seem a bit limited, especially for females...no long hair option??? How hard would it have been to take one of those books in a unisex hair salon and duplicate every style? My Harbor Studio has a nice view but I couldn't throw my art deco furniture over the balcony...darn.Before I left my studio I familiarized my self with all the emotes, I'm impressed with the amount and variety of emotes...do the robot and talk to the hand at the same time...made me smile in approval. The comm system is great hold R2 to talk via headset and just type away for texting, if you don't have a USB keybord or headset hit L1 for pre formatted messages or use the PS3's built in keybord (slow). As far as curse words, they get the astrik treatment...although I didn't test l33t text...

Start brings up your triquarter thingie (looks like a PSP in other peoples hands) this little dodad has a lot of uses like warping to a differnent area of Home, calling a friend, inviting a friend to where you are and more (can't remember now).

Before I started to explore Home I DL'd all the zones while in my studio then I headed to the theater, grabbed a seat and sat while the movie trailer was DLing (Optimum or Fios will definately make the wait a lot less painful compared to my Verizon DSL) Got an invite from a guy in my clan, pulled out my trusty triquarter and warped to the mall. Here is the core of the Home experience....you can set up a chat room with your PS3 where up to 9 friends can chat and if you have a PS Eye you can video chat...with Home every PS3 owner is in this virtual environment and can communicate with anyone, this open ended environment can trully build the Playstation community beyond your basic friends list. The one thing I was a little disapointed in was the fact developer zones like Sully's bar didn't seem "connected" to the rest of the Home areas which kinda takes you out of the cyber reality of the landscape of Home. So I'm at the mall now talking to one of the guys in my clan via my headset and text, he shows me the new sweatshirt he bought in one of the stores in the mall...$00.50 for a virtual sweatshirt, I laughed thinking of the repercusions if my wife found out I spent real money on a virtual sweatshirt! The real estate store was open and I could've dropped $4.99 on a summer home...prices seem a little off in home...$00.50 for a sweatshirt and only 10X that for a summer house! Maybe that's where we're headed with the RL economy...with all the sweatshirts my wife and I have we'll be owning an island in the carribean soon! I think conversations are proximity based meaning people walking by would hear our conversation. As I talked with my my clanmate I couldn't help but compare Home to your typical message board, the mall being a section of a message board such as a Video Games section and the we were having a conversation about Home so you could compare it to me and my clanmate talking about CoD4 in the CoD4 thread of a message board. Same concept, different application. Then I thought to myself as dozens and dozens of people interacted...where's the mods? The Mr. Smiths of Home...

All in all Home is potentially a new way for people to meet online and participate in community based activities.There is also unlimited potential for Home to generate RL revenue via advertising and micro transactions. I'm looking forward to more publishers embracing Home and using it to promote their games with game-centric zones such as Sully's Bar and special events where Home owners can acquire unique items to showcase how involved they are in home. And Capcom....if by some miracle you're reading this make Chun Li's stage as an area in home to promote Street Fighter IV! And If EA BIG makes another SSX game make a Ski Lodge with a store where we can purchase boards and equipment to use within the game...and an Elise lamp or statue to buy for our homes! So many ideas I could go on and on...

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

PS home has been in development for so long now I can't remember when I first read about it. I've seen all of Sony's video's showcasing Home, from the TV being thrown down the stairs to the avatar creation vids, to the aimless wanderings throughtout Home from your "Home" to the mall, to the theater and arcade area's. I've lurked in the Playstation.com Home forums hoping to read a legit post regarding a release but that never happened. Little by little my friends began recieving invites to the beta...I even downloaded that gawd awful Home theme in hopes to find a "golden ticket" into Home in my email...alas I was never able to join my friends in Sony's digital eden, or as some call it Sony's 2nd life/sims spinoff.

Sony has promised that Home will open before 2009 which leaves them 21 days to keep their promise....

Check it! John Connor grows a pair and talks smack in the face of a T-400. The first TS trailer is out and attached to TDTESS remake. Seems that Mc G has been slightly influenced by Bayformers, if you've been following the TS news there's a terminator cycle that may or maynot actually transform. And that big dude at the end of the trailer appears to "transform" as well! If you missed it on Entertainment Tonight you can see it here thanks to JoBlo and our friends in Japan with tiny digital cameras.

Monday, December 1, 2008

I've been posting about SSFIITHDR all year and the good pilgrims at Capcom have delivered a digital feast for the Thanksgiving holiday!

Once the download was complete I jumped right in, SSFIITHDR is a must have for fans of the Street Fighter franchise and it's as good as this 14 year title has ever looked or played.

The intro screen boasts a powerful remixed score by the guys at overclocked and showcases Ryu and Gouki (Akuma) artwork from UDON. Press the start button and your brought to the main menu, there you can choose Singleplayer, Multiplayer, Scoreboard, Help & Options.

Choosing Single Player will bring you to a new window where you can choose Arcade Mode or Training Mode. Choosing Arcade Mode will bring you to a new window where your given the choice of HD Remix or Classic Arcade, Choose a mode and then the character select screen will come up, choose your fighter and get to kicking ass offline.

Training Mode is a great place for Street Fighter Vets and N00bs to familiarize themselves with how the remixed World Warriors handle. Like Arcade Mode, Training Mode gives the player the choice of HD Remix or Classic, after choosing the fighter you want to train with, your sparing partner and stage to train on this mode goes the extra mile by giving a list of additional features like the character's Move List, Training Options; Opponent's Behavior: Stand/Crouch/Jump/CPU controlled/ Human controlled Opponent Blocking: Auto/Always/Never Super Meter: Normal/Infinite Display Hitboxes, which will overlay red hit boxes for attack moves and blue for defensives areas during moves. The other features are Help and Options, About the Game which explains some terms and techniques of Street Fighter, Controls which is where you can customize the controller buttons to your preference and Settings where you can adjust the audio and/or display (WS or Standard) of the game.

OK stop playing with yourself....There's Plenty of Other Fighters Like You All Over the World!

Lets test your skills against all the other World Warriors all over the World!

Multiplayer mode is where your gonna trully test your might! Choosing multiplayer will bring up a new screen with four options Local Match, Scoreboard Match, Friendly Match and Tournament Match.

Local Match

Test your skills with friends and family on your console, that's ok but playing the same people over and over gets dull after awhile...trust me I know!

Friendly Match

"The true warrior enters the *online* arena with all his powers at the ready"

You may be able to beat the game with over five stars difficulty and disgrace your buddies with but lets see if you got the heart kid! For some this may come as a rude awakening that all these years you thought you were l33t at Street Fighter only to find your like Apollo Creed against Ivan Drago...

Friendly Match mode will not record your records so it's an ideal location to sharpen your skills for when it matters in a scoreboard match!

When you choose Friendly Match you'll have three options; Search for Match where you can specify certain filters like game speed/ number of players in a room/ voice chat. You'll then get a list of rooms that fall within your parameters, or leave the filters as any to widen your search, pick a room with an opening and wait your turn to challenge the current leader of the room. Rooms can range from two players to six and private slots can be set aside for friends.

Scoreboard Match

When sparring matches in your safe 1v1 friendly match games is over and your ready, enter the Scoreboard Match and test your skills, this is virually the same as a friendly match, double blind character select, 2 rounds to win a match. The only difference is the these matches record your wins, losses and according to Capcom there will be a stat tracking website launnched that will keep track of not only your wins and losses but how many special moves you've performed such as kikokens, hadokens, shoryukens, and spinning bird kicks, how many times you've won by perfect, how many times you've won by using a super move etc.

For me, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remixis a tremendousvalue, for only $14.99 you get a 100% arcade quality port of the original SSFIIT as well as the HD remix which could be considered a completely new version. SSFIITHDR is a testament to the longevity and quality of the Street Fighter franchise, the fact that this project almost got scraped yet the teams behind it pushed on to produce such an amazing game shows how devoted Capcom USA, Udon and Backbone were to this project and the hard is seen in every frame of the game and every sound bite!

I have waited since the late 90's to be able to play Street Fighter on line on my home console, I would've been pleased with a straight port of any version but for Capcom to practically rebuild SSFIIT from the ground up with the depth and attention to detail like a swiss watch maker was more than most fans of the franchise could've hoped for!

I recomend this game with no reservations for veterans and newcomers alike, the game offers enough variations for newcomers to learn the basics and work on mastering the more technical aspects of the game. And the remixed version is trully a joy to play, not only is it a visual masterpiece but the gameplay and remixed tweeks to the characters adds tremendously to the competitve nature of hardcore players. Below is a list of links to the Capcom Unity Blogs chronicaling the retooling of the World Warriors. With a game that is so dependant upon timing, lag could ruin the experience of playing this game online but with over 200 matches fought I can say that, for the most part, very minor issues with lag (I use Verizon DSL) and that the network is for the most part, very stable. Although I did find myself in a scoreboard match with someone who found a way to make the entire screen black except for my character and the health bars...obviously this person was very inexperienced to say it politely to loose to me even with a glitch that rendered me blind so to speak.